Pusher assemblies are well known in the art and provide for the automatic biasing or “front-facing” of retail merchandise towards a front edge of the assembly which is closest to the consumer. Such assemblies are readily recognized as reducing labor costs and providing an appealing look to the arrangement of retail merchandise in a retail merchandise display.
Unfortunately, certain types of retail merchandise are not readily usable in pusher assemblies due to their size and/or shape. One example of such an item of retail merchandise is the frozen pizza. As is well known, frozen pizza is typically packaged with an outer wrapper and a cardboard backing. This packaging generally has a circular outer periphery, which approximates the circular shape of the pizza carried therein. A typical pusher assembly often times incorporates upright divider walls on either side of the pusher assembly to contain the retail merchandise in a neat row. However, the Applicants have discovered that such upright divider walls make only minimal contact with objects having a circular outer periphery, and as a result, tend to not neatly contain such objects.
Furthermore, conventional pusher assemblies typically have a pusher with a front wall that is perpendicular to the retail merchandise support surface of the pusher assembly upon which the retail merchandise rests on. The Applicants herein have discovered that this perpendicular wall has a tendency to cause relatively larger and thinner items, e.g. frozen pizzas, to lean forward in a displeasing manner, and in some extreme cases, tip entirely forward. The Applicants have determined that this leaning or tipping is a caused primarily by the perpendicular orientation of the front wall of the pusher, which has a tendency to place a biasing force relatively high along the back surface of the retail merchandise creating a moment arm about the bottom edge of the retail merchandise, thereby causing it to rotate generally at this bottom edge to produce the aforementioned lean or tipping.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a pusher assembly that advantageously accommodates retail merchandise having a circular outer periphery, and biases the same with the aforementioned displeasing forward lean or tipping.
The invention provides such a pusher assembly. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.